


Something Loved It Once

by StellarLibraryLady



Series: My T'hy'la [4]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Introspection, Long Dead Civilizations, Past, Philosophy, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-24 19:17:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20912747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarLibraryLady/pseuds/StellarLibraryLady
Summary: Kirk is amazed by Spock's knowledge, artistic temperament, and appreciation of the past and of his understanding of current personal relationships.





	Something Loved It Once

A soft wind sloughed through the hodgepodge of weather-beaten and broken pillars that lay scattered over the uneven ground. The massive rocks either leaned at precarious angles or lay splintered and half-buried in the shifting red sand. Yet no force of nature had located these pieces of sandstone here. For their surfaces had the unmistakable markings of having once been dressed by tools wielded by thinking creatures who had had a definite plan in mind for their function and even for their beautification. But those purposes had fled with the thinking creatures who had created them, never to return. And the unfeeling stone missed the creatures who had once envisioned a more poetic function for that stone, stone that had been created when pressure was exerted on settling sands in some prehistoric creek bed, stone that had only been brought into its full function when long-dead hands had shaped it to their will, and stone that had lost its exalted purpose when its creators had finally deserted it.

For there was a feeling of unease, of expectancy from the stone for something that would never come again, no matter how much it was anticipated. But over it, also, was an indifference, as if the natural world could care less about the future, or the past, or even of the present, of this place. For nature reclaims its own and finally can erase all traces of mankind, no matter how mighty those men may have felt about themselves in their lifetimes. Or for the carved sandstone that they had left to give evidence that they had once existed.

And through this place of forgotten memories roamed two men in Starfleet uniforms. They were trying to judge what this site currently was, but the obvious past of this place was pressing down on them and influencing them more. But these two men were in awe of the past that had been forgotten and lost forever from this place, a forgotten memory that had once given this place legitimacy. 

James T. Kirk squinted as he stopped and looked around at the deserted ruins. He could feel the past all around him, but not as much as he knew that his companion did. “Do you really believe that this planet had a civilization sometime in its history, Spock?”

“Look around us, Captain. Something with intelligent life once prospered here and created these structures. Something here once loved it. Otherwise there would not have been an attempt to foster and highlight its natural beauty by erecting stone edifices. Pity that time and the elements have marred the original intent of these statues. Presumably it was to edify the qualities of their deities.” He glanced at Kirk. “Why do you have such an amused look on your face?”

“That is not amusement, Spock, it’s amazement. Sheer wonderment, if you will. I did not know that you could wax so poetic. Pity that Dr. McCoy is not here to hear all of these disclosures about the aesthetic qualities of the beings who once lived here. He would be thunderstruck with your sensitivity.”

“Indeed, Captain. You forget that I have a developed appreciation for the fine arts. I play musical instruments, dabble in operas, and I even sing on occasion."

“I did not say that I would not be impressed. I simply said that McCoy would be thunderstruck by the poetry in your soul which is enabling you to recreate the world that once flourished here.”

“Dr. McCoy might simply be seeing himself in my behavior.”

Kirk arched an eyebrow and grinned. “Now THAT would stun McCoy! If he saw himself in you, he would argue against that notion until the cows came home!”

“I do not know anything about the hour when bovines return to their nighttime shelters, except that they are inclined to do it at a specific time, in a specific order, and with a certain leader. But I do know that Dr. McCoy is a very humane and caring person who tries to hide that fact so that he will not have his feelings hurt as easily as they can be.”

It was Kirk’s turn to look stunned. “You know that much about McCoy?!”

“Why does that surprise you?” Spock asked with mild interest.

“Why, why he thinks that you don’t want anything to do with emotions!”

“That is true. But it does not mean that I do not understand them,” Spock answered coolly.

Kirk slowly shook his head while a look of wonder ruled his face. “You continue to amaze me, Mr. Spock. That’s all I can say. You continue to amaze me.”

“I am happy for that much then, Captain. And might I add that you and Dr. McCoy and other Earthlings continue to amaze me, also.”

“I know that one of the reasons why you came among us was because you were curious about us. But, then, you are curious about so many things.”

“But may I say, Captain, that Earthlings arouse my curiosity more than a lot of the creatures I have encountered in the universe. You are so flawed, yet so mimic your godhead. As it says in your Bible, ‘God created man in his own image.’ That was such an overwhelming statement when I first encountered it, but I find few Earthlings are impressed with the fact that they look like their god.”

Kirk grinned sheepishly. “Well, that first chapter of Genesis states some pretty impressive facts, like God creating the Earth in six days with all the plants and animals and seas and land. That’s pretty daunting and quite a feat when you think about it. So the business of God creating man in his image might get lost in the shuffle.”

“So do you believe that the people who erected these stone edifices might have done it to glorify their ideas of what their god was like?”

Kirk looked around him. “I think you might be onto something.”

“If you understand what a man worships, then you might well understand that man.”

Kirk studied Spock. “You’re just full of all sorts of wisdom today, aren’t you?”

“That might not be what Dr. McCoy might remark that I am full of,” Spock noted wryly.

Kirk considered the love/hate relationship between McCoy and Spock and how much the two guys depended upon each other and protected each other.

Kirk gave him a lazy smile. “About what you think he's full of,” he rejoined, turning it back on Spock. It was easy when he understood just what a convoluted relationship there was between the other two.

Spock didn’t sputter the way that McCoy well might have if Kirk had said something like that to him. Instead, Spock gave Kirk a look of approval with a slightly raised eyebrow. There might even have been a little grin of appreciation. There was a definite sparkle in those deep, mysterious Vulcan eyes of his.

Spock took a step forward, looking once more at the broken stonework scattered around them. “A great civilization was once here, but it moved on. Either by design or by necessity, it had to seek another home. But it left a great sadness behind. And also a great pride, a love for what had once been. They wanted someone to know that they had once been here, and we do. The very air is pregnant with their presence, even though they and their world are long forgotten and lost to the history of this planet.”

And Jim Kirk stumbled along, listening to the narrative of a lost people related by a person who knew what loss was. 

For it is only someone who has had anything to lose who knows what loss is.

And only that person who understands and treasures what he does possess.

And for that reason, Spock is rich. And Kirk. And McCoy. And the people who once dressed and erected these stones to forgotten gods.

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing of Star Trek, its characters, and/or its story lines.


End file.
